Wang Renmei: The Wildcat of Shanghai

Foreword

Foreword here are two positions one can adopt when introducing a speaker or an author’s work: one can speak or write from a position of authority and expertise, full of knowledge and nuance about the topic, or as a generalist, eager to learn about an area in which he or she has no special knowledge. I have had the pleasure and the honor of introducing Dr. Richard J. Meyer, an accomplished film historian, on numerous occasions, but I have never had a choice about how to do it: I am always in the enviable position of wanting to learn about an area outside my specializations, and I have never been disappointed in how much I have learned or in the delightful manner in which that learning takes place. I am, however, something of a specialist in recognizing wellwritten , important Àlm scholarship from the perspective of an editor, having spent years editing the film journal Wide Angle and then editing several Àlm book anthologies. From that perspective, it is with expertise that I introduce this book. I met Richie at the justly celebrated Pordenone Silent Film Festival what seems a long time ago, which is only appropriate considering that gathering is devoted to early cinema. He had already T distinguished himself in that field by, among other things, having helped to develop the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Exposure to retrospectives of Keaton, Chaplin, and GrifÀth during a brief time that I lived in New York became an important factor in my later switching majors in graduate school from English to Àlm, where I had the further privilege of taking a seminar on GrifÀth from Russell Merritt. I never again, however, lived in places where I had good access and opportunity to pursue that interest. To say I was playing catch-up with Richie in Pordenone would be an understatement. The same is true with Chinese cinema. Like most Àlm scholars, I have had a longstanding love of international cinema, including Japanese cinema and, since Àrst seeing his Àlms, I have thought of Ozu as my favorite Àlmmaker. But when it comes to Chinese Àlms, I am once again playing catch-up and for a similar reason as with early cinema. Until I met Richie, my exposure to Chinese cinema had been predictable: I had seen and loved John Woo’s Hong Kong Àlms and Zhang Yimou’s astonishingly beautiful work, and those films still stand for me the best of contemporary world cinema. But The Peach Girl, The Goddess, and Wild Rose? Never heard of them. Jin Yan, Ruan Lingyu, Wang Renmei? Never heard of them. Richie Meyer has literally opened new doors to Chinese cinema for me and for many Westerners with his important books about these three actors and DVD productions of these three Àlms. With this book Meyer once again brings attention to a comparatively obscure actress in the English-speaking world and to a film that few have seen. Important as this is, his work is distinguished by much more. Meyer always places his subject within a precise historical, cultural, and Àlm production context. This book provocatively examines the paradox of Renmei’s promising career as a star from the mid-1930s, which never materialized after a brilliant start. Meyer places this career trajectory within the context of antixiv Foreword feminist, feudal traditions in China as well as the fate of many leftists from Shanghai of that generation. He also carefully traces Renmei’s life; her rise to stardom in Wild Rose; her marriage to her co-star, Jin Yan, leading to the studio not renewing her contract in the belief that a married woman would not appeal to the male audience; and later her second marriage to the artist Ye Qianyu, as well as her mental breakdowns and physical health problems. Meyer always writes in an accessible, jargon-free style that invites all interested readers to share his enthusiasm and knowledge for the films he loves so much within their richest historical, cultural, and biographical contexts. Thanks to this wonderful book, the name Wang Renmei and the film Wild Rose will no longer be obscure within the English-speaking world of film scholarship. As coincidence would have it, I write this introduction at a time in my life when China is of increasing importance to me personally, as it is to many Westerners. Last year I had the opportunity to...